Stress has become a common occurrence in our fast-paced society. With more demands placed on us everyday, as we face more and new challenges, and with more changes than ever before, stress is the price we pay for our sophisticated lifestyles. Stress however, is different things to different people. Many times we are really describing a set of symptoms that vary from person to person. So what really is stress?
Stress is not something that happens to us, it is actually a series of reactions taking place within us. This series of internal reactions are caused by an event or series of events taking place in our lives. These events may be situations where the demands of life are greater than the resources available to deal with them. They can also be situations that we just don’t know how to deal with. therefore, stress is a series of internal reactions that can occur when there is a perceived mismatch between and event taking place in our life’s and our resources or “know how” to deal with it.
Here are two examples of how these reactions can be “triggered.” Say your boss gives you and assignment that you feel has a totally unrealistic deadline. You feel you don’t have enough time to complete it by yourself and you don’t have any help. In this situation there is a perceived mismatch between the assignment and the lack of time or assistance you have to complete it.
Here is another example. Say that your son or daughter has been in trouble several times at school. You have received several phone calls from his/her teacher and the counselor about the situation. You have tried several thins, but nothing seems to resolve the problem. In this situation, there is a perceived mismatched between the trouble with your child at school and you’re ability to solve the problem.
We do not necessarily recognize the specific event or events that cause the series of reactions. Whether we know it or not, sour mind interprets and responds to every event taking place in our lives. When we perceive that a demand is greater than the resources available to deal with it or just don’t know how to deal with a situation, we respond to it as a threat. Our natural response in a threatening situation is “fight or flight.” The fight or flight response is our instinctive response that causes us to want to fight or run.
When this instinctive response occurs, adrenaline and various other chemicals are released into the blood stream. These cause biological changes in the body; the heart rate and blood pressure increase, blood flow is redirected to the muscles, muscles are tensed, etc. A kind of static energy is created by these biological changes. The brain is preparing the body for quick decisions, vigorous action, and defense against injury to deal with the perceived threat.
Harmful effects
The fight or flight response is not harmful itself, but the series of reactions doesn’t end there, since our perceived threats are usually not acted upon physically, we are actually resisting our biological fight or flight response. The response actually becomes harmful when energy is created to act, but we do not provide a release. We suppress or resist the response to the point where the struggle become and internal one between the physical desire to act and the mental desire to resist.
When nothing is done to cope with or provide a release to this response, both the body and the mind remain in a state of distress. When this state continues for an extended period of time, we experience stress. Stress drains the body of the energy necessary to maintain a health physical and mental state. The entire human system actually become physically and mentally exhausted.
Our bodies do have natural mechanisms for dealing with stress. Each of us has inherited natural tolerances to stress, with each of us having a different tolerance level. However, when we experience stress for an extended period of time, eventually our natural process of dealing with it gradually wears down. Resistance, both physical and mental, is lowered. Eventually, the effects of stress exhibit themselves in a wide variety of ways.
The accumulated effects of this prolonged stress condition have been linked to a variety of diseases and illnesses. Under stress, our natural immune systems are weakened or break down completely. Medical ressear4ch indicates that as much as fifty percent or more of all medical problems are stress-related. In addition, the effects of prolonged stress can lead to serious emotional and behavioral disorders.
Beneficial effects
This series of reaction is appropriated and can be lifesaving when facing real physical danger. It has been attributed to many superhuman feats in emergency situations. Athletes try to artificially create this response to get “pumped up” for a game or sporting event.
In most situations of life, we resist the fight or flight response. Although we resist the response, it does not have to result in stress. If we can learn how to cope with the response, and channel the energy created, it can actually be a powerful and useful force. The adrenaline in our system can serve to stimulate our mental abilities, and challenge and motivate us
Understanding the series of reactions
To understand this series of reactions, we must look at the rapid changes humans in our culture have gone through in a relatively short period of time. Until only a hundred years ago or so, humans had been constantly faced with physical threats of survival for thousands of years. Although not all of these threats were acted upon, people in past generations were much more active than we are today and this provided a release.
The fight or flight response has evolved over these thousands of years to react quickly to physical threats. Contemporary life is far less hazardous, with fewer physical threats. In that sense, life has become less stressful. On the other hand, our culture offers more challenges, and more changes than ever before. Humans perceive and react to these events as threats; not as physical threats but as psychological threats. Unfortunately, our response to a psychological threat is exactly the same as a physical threat.
In a sense, our culture has progressed faster than our biological nature. The response that prepares you to fight or run does not solve the problem with your spouse, child, boss, or other responsibilities.
Sources:
“What is Stress?”, http://www.mtstcil.org/skills/stress-definition-1.html